New Jersey mayor says town has reached capacity, closes it to visitors

Belmar Beach, NJ on Saturday.
(Image credit: Facebook.com/Belmarbeach)

So many people were clamoring to get to Belmar, New Jersey, on Sunday, that the mayor stopped all incoming traffic from coming in during the afternoon, saying the small town had reached capacity.

The population is usually about 6,000, but during the summer it soars to more than 60,000, NJ.com reports. Mayor Matt Doherty told NJ Advance Media that he spoke with the police department about the huge number of people packed in the 1.6-square-mile beach town, and they decided Belmar needed to be closed to visitors for safety reasons. Doherty said a "perfect storm of good things" caused the swell in visitors, including the 29th annual seafood festival and beautiful weather. Although visitors were turned away, residents just had to show their license to get around the road closures, and the town reopened for everyone at around 7 p.m.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.